White Oak
Parts Usually Used
Bark
Description of Plant(s) and Culture
White oak is a large, native North American tree; usually 60-100 feet high, but may grow as tall as 150 feet with a trunk diameter up to 8 feet. White oak bark is pale gray, and the leaves have rounded or finger-shaped lobes. The alternate, deciduous leaves are bright green and hairless, widest beyond the middle, with 3-5 pairs of rounded lobes. Light brown, ovoid acorns grow on current year’s twigs in bowl-shaped cups enclosing a quarter of the acorn.
Other varieties: Red oak (Q. rubra); Black oak (Q. tinctoria); English oak (Q. robur)
Where Found
Grows from Canada southward to the Gulf of Mexico, as far west as Texas. Found in upland woods.
Medicinal Properties
Astringent, tonic, antiseptic, anthelmintic, styptic
Biochemical Information
Calcium, cobalt, 15-20% tannin, iron, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, sulfur, and vitamin B12.
Legends, Myths and Stories
The acorns are astringent like the bark; but when shelled, ground into a meal and soaked in running water for a few hours, the tannic acid is leached out. They then may be used as a nutritive tonic for wasting diseases. In some areas, Native Americans would gather 500 lb. per family, which was a year’s supply. , prepared fresh from the ground acorn. They also were known to have allowed acorn meal to go moldy in a dark, damp place, and then scrape the mold off for application to boils, sores, and other inflammations.
There are about 40 species of the genus Quercus in China.
Uses
Historically, herbalists employed oak bark and galls for a wide variety of complaints, attributing astringent and hemostatic qualities to their tannin content. Traditional practitioners administered preparations of the bark internally for chronic diarrhea, dysentery, stomach troubles, fever, vomiting, and internal bleeding, including hemorrhage of the lungs, stomach, and bowels.
It was also historically utilized for bladder problems, gallstones, kidney stones, goiter, pinworms, and premenstrual or menstrual difficulties. In folk practice, decoctions were taken as an antidote for poisoning by vegetable alkaloids such as strychnine and veratrine. Externally, oak bark tea was traditionally utilized in douches, enemas, and mouthwashes for sore throats, dental issues, and canker sores.
Folk traditions recommended topical washes and compresses—sometimes combining oak with witch hazel—for hemorrhoids, varicose veins, broken capillaries, burns, and poison-ivy rash. Additionally, poultices made from the powdered bark and wheat flour were historically applied to sores, wounds, boils, ringworm, and to help extract splinters and foreign matter from the skin.
How Sold
Capsules
Warning
Tannic acid is potentially toxic.
Bibliography
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